Putin has never given up on a Russian air base in Iraq after getting his way in Syria. He now has a good chance of Obama’s nod to him gaining an air base in Shiite dominated southern Iraq near the old fields.

Spetsnaz special operations teams have been posted at all Russian facilities in Syria against hostile attack. Covered by attack helicopters, they have declared large spaces around those facilities sterile areas.

The US is building its first air base on Syrian soil at the disused Abu Hajar airport in northern Kurdish territory. It will reduce flying time for air strikes against the ISIS capitals, Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.

Tuesday night, Feb. 12, the Syrian Air Force began bombing the large al-Jarra air base which rebels led by Islamist battalions conquered near the northern city of Aleppo. Bashar Assad ordered his air force to destroy dozens of its own fighter-bombers: L-29 trainer planes, Sukhoi Su-22M bombers and Mig-23 interceptors. Their loss deprives the Syrian ruler of the means to wipe out rebel forces from the air. Had they possessed air crews, the rebels could have used their prize to bomb the presidential palace.

As Syrian ruler Bashar Assad stood before parliament in Damascus Sunday, June 3, declaring, “Not even monsters could have carried out the Houla massacre,” rebels attacked a Syrian Air Force base east of the southern town of Deraa opposite the Israeli Golan border – their first such attack in the 14-month uprising, debkafile’s military sources report. Several rebel teams firing mortars set fire to fighter aircraft and assault helicopters in their hangars at the As Suwayda air base and ripped up runways.